Here are a couple of versions of a beaut cowboy love song. Does anyone have any information about its origins? Is it a traditional song or another example of what Slim Critchlow called 'hand written songs' that passed into tradition? The first version is that sung by Frank Hamilton. I got the lyrics from Roger McGinn's site Click. The second version is my transcription from a Slim Critchlow recording.

THE BRAZOS RIVER (Traditional ?)

The cool Angelina runs lofty and gliding The crooked Colorado runs weaving and winding The Red River runs rusty, the Wichita clear But Down by the Brazos, I courted my dear

^^ Source: transcribed from Slim Critchlow 'Cowboy Songs: The Crooked Trail to Holbrook' Arhoolie CD 479. PS. Slim noted that the song was unearthed by Sam Hinton. I would be grateful for confirmation or correction of the river names in this version. However, 'Nacodoches' is a made up name by Critchlow. He commented: 'I can only offer my apologies to the state of Texas for inventing one of their rivers. After a long sojourn in Oklahoma, I was perfectly sure that there was a Nacodoches River and, liking the ring of the name in preference to Naches (which it was before I tinkered with it), I changed it. Too late now, but let that be a lesson to me!'

I have an old (1958) LP by Alan Lomax with a song called "Ain't No More Cane On This Brazis (sic)", the notes say it is from page 58, AMERICAN BALLADS AND FOLK SONGS. A "cane cutting" prison song from Texas.

The fair Angelina runs glossy and gliding, The crooked Colorado runs weaving and winding. The slow San Antonio crosses the plain, But I never will walk by that Brazos again.

She kissed me, she hugged me, she called me her dandy, The Trinity's muddy and the Brazos quick-sandy. She kissed me, she hugged me, called me her own, But down by the Brazos she left me alone.

Those girls on Little River are plump and they're pretty, The Sabine the Sulphur hold beauties a-plenty, On the banks of the Neches there's girls by the score, But down by the Brazos I'll wander no more.

I first heard, learnt & loved this over 25 yrs ago, got it from an older fellow (from the Boston area) of great voice & even greater wealth of song & lore, Rob Joel (RIP). He told me it started out as a work song used by rivermen but I don't know where he got that info from. I've yet to run across it as a work song over but that doesn't mean sh+&%$@t. I'm fondest of the way Skip Gorman sings. My kids always loved this as a lullabye & when I'd sing it they'd hold my paw as they drifted off. Barry

I first heard it in 1962, from a girl who got it in Chicago...somewhere I have a hand-done map showing the various rivers. I'll go dig in the catacombs and see if I can post it. (The 2nd version posted is closest to the 'standard'...the first has been mis-heard and re-written)

We learned this song many years ago and we can't remember who we heard do it. Might have been Sam Hinton, maybe Faith Petric. When we got around to learning it we used a book for the words (how unfolky) and we could not fit the word Nacogdoches in no matter how hard we tried. So, we looked at a map and found there was a Frio River in Texas so we put that in. Good thing, too, since we have sung this song in many a Texas classroom without knowing that Nacogdoches was a made up river.

Thing is, while the river may be made up, there is a town called Nachedoches in Texas, so he didn't make up the whole thing. I think I've spelled it right, I will check. I had an aunt who lived there, and when I had to write her as a child, I was always amused by the unusual name. Blessings, Barbara, who learned this from Faith, too, and the way you fit in Nachedoches is you drop the word 'River'; i.e. "And down in Nachedoches, there's girls by the score..."

This song was collected from Mrs. Irene Carlisle by Vance Randolph in Fayetteville, Arkansas, January 30, 1942. He published it in his great collection, Ozark Folksongs, (Volume 2, page 231). I asked Vance about this song in 1962 because I, like Ely (above) suspected that it was a fairly recently written song, with all the deliberate use of alliteration, etc. It turns out that Vance, who was a superb researcher, had failed to find it in any of the songsters he was famous for including in his research, and he, too, suspected it to be a "written" song (as they say). He told me that he had gone back to Irene Carlisle and asked her, "C'mon, Irene, didn't you write that song?" "No," she told him. "I learned it in 1921 from a hired man. He'd come up from Texas, cutting timber here in the Ozarks, and was boarding at our place. We courted a little, and he taught me that song. Then he went back to Texas."

I first learned the song in the early 1950s from the singing of Ellen Steckert, who had it from Randolph's book. We all were singing it in the Berkeley area in 1957, when I met Slim Critchlow. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Slim may have learned it from Barry Olivier at about that time. Slim was a fine singer with a wealth of good western songs, but I think he must have added this one to his repertoire after moving to California. It isn't found reported from tradition in any of the other printed collections.

Art can verify my recollection that Win Stracke wrote the Illinois version he sings, another was sent to me by a Kentucky folkie who wrote one for his state after learning the song from my own recording of it (with Caroline) which came out in 1966 (Folk-Legacy's EGO-30 LP). All of the other revisions could properly be considered "parodies" of Irene Carlisle's song, rather than "versions," a term which implies circulation in the oral tradition.

Forgot to add: Mrs. Carlisle was from Arkansas, of course, so her knowledge of Texas geography may have been lacking. However, she did sing "Natchez" (a place with which she may have been more familiar), even though it's possible she misunderstood her "hired man." Also: her first chorus says "La la la lee lee lee, pole the boat on," (3X) and ends with "My Brazos River sweetheart has left me and gone." She ended the second chorus with "The Trinity's muddy but the Brazos quicksand." The final chorus she closed with "There's many a river that waters the land." I didn't sing them right in my own recording of the song, back in the dark ages, but that's because I wanted the chorus to be consistent, allowing folks to sing along. Caroline and I just stayed with "There's many a river that waters the land" all the way through. Finally: Irene always sang "La la la lee lee lee, give me your hand" rather than the frequently heard "Lie lie lie, lee lee lee..." Trivia, but there you have it.

Can't get away from this one... I should have re-read the above notes. Slim says he learned it from Sam Hinton. That doesn't surprise me at all, and confirms that he learned it after he moved to California. Sam could tell us where he learned it, but I'd wager it was from Randolph. If I'm correct, you can also bet he got the words right. Sam is one of the most widely-read and knowledgeable folk singers I've ever known. How he had time to soak up so much from the literature of folklore and folksong, while remaining equally well-informed in his own scientific field of marine biology is beyond me. I think he had total recall! More than that: he is the only person I've ever known who could whistle one part of a round while humming a second part. Pure genius!

Faith alternates the beginning lines of the choruses as well as then end phrase, first singing "Give me your hand" and then the next time around "Pole the boat on" For the last line she alternates "many a river" with "the Trinity's muddy," and the last time using "my Brazos River sweetheart has left me and gone". At least I think that's how Faith does it, my version's been folk-processed too. Blessings Barbara

Lanny Fiel of Texas Tech University has done extensive research on the origins of this song. I had printed the workshop info from one of his Texas heritage workshops but can't locate it at present. I suggest you contact him if you need more information. He is a wonderfull musician who is devoted to preserving the Heritage of West Texas.

Ed Miller recorded this song as Rivers and Reivers on his Lowlander CD. In the notes he says "Over the years, I've heard many Texas singers perform 'The Texas River Song', my personal favorite being the version of the late Buck Ramsey. Andy Wilkinson, another great West Texan poet who worked extensively with Buck, commented once that he he'd heard this was originally a Scottish song, and that it had been adapted by cowboy singers to encompass the names of Texas rivers. Having searched in vain for a Scottish equivalent, I did the next best thing and wrote a couple of verses mentioning the southeast Scottish Borders. While rehearsing, it also struck me that the old Jacobite tune 'Over the Water to Charlie' was musically compatible."

I learned this at Cornell Outing Club weekends on the islands in Lake George in the early 1960s, with the alternate choruses. The singer's name was Adriane (?) -- anyone know her? Her other party piece was Coltman's Web of Birdsong.

Dick Levine sings a NJ version.

Bill D., I too have the map, probably not the same as yours, traced on onionskin paper by Jo Houghton. If there's any interest, I could scan it in.

I've known this song since the late 1950's--early 1960's. It was sung by Molly Scott and is on a recording she made around that time. She sang it on an early television show for Children, if I remember this right. I might not. It's been a long time.

She sang a beautiful version that is very close to your second version. The river in question, in her version, was the Natchez. Whether there is or is not such a river, that fits the meter perfectly and that's how I will continue to sing it.

Rivers of Texas, The (The Brazos River)

DESCRIPTION: The singer lists the various rivers of Texas he has seen, noting that "Down by the Brazos I courted my dear." But now she has left him, and "I never will walk by the Brazos no more."AUTHOR: unknownEARLIEST DATE: 1942 (Randolph)KEYWORDS: love courting separation riverFOUND IN: US(MW,So)REFERENCES (3 citations):Randolph 201, "The Brazos River" (1 text, 1 tune) DT, RIVTEXAS* ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 36, #3 (1991), pp, 72-73, "Down by the Brazos" (1 text, 1 tune, from the Scragg Family)Roud #4764RECORDINGS:Irene Carlisle, "The Brazos River" (AAFS-L30, 1942?) Art Thieme, "Down by the Embarass" (on Thieme02) (on Thieme05)ALTERNATE TITLES: Down by the Embarras (Illinois version) The Rivers of GeorgiaNOTES: Paul Stamler notes that there are "non-Texas" versions of this song (see the alternate titles), though I have never encountered them. I know that at least one modern "folk" composer has created a localized version; I suspect the traditional versions are of similar origin. Though I am not sure which is the original. - RBW As far as I can tell, the Texas version was first. I also gather someone tried to rewrite it for Nebraska, but they didn't have enough rivers to finish a verse. - PJSLast updated in version 2.4File: R201

I got a little upset when I saw "Natchez" in the last verse of the version of this song that appeared in the Rise Again Songbook. I once again reminded myself that I was the associate editor, not the editor - but I knew that the authentic version of the song had "Nacodoches," because that's what's on the recordings by Slim Critchlow and by Faith Petric. After all, there's no Natchez River in Texas. Natchez is a Mississippi name, not necessarily of a river at all.

But then I heard a recording by Sandy Paton, the only person I've known to have read all of the books in the Rivers of America collection - and Sandy sang "Natchez." On top of that, Bill Staines sings "Natchez." And I found in the Rise Again editing notes that I was the one who chose to use the Sandy Paton lyrics with "Natchez." So, shut my mouth....

The Traditional Ballad Index says the earliest version known to the Index is the one collected by Vance Randolph from Mrs. Irene Carlisle of Fayetteville, Arkansas, on January 30, 1942. Mrs. Carlisle learned it from a hired man who had lived in Texas. Here are the lyrics from Randolph's Ozark Folksongs Vol 2, Page 231, #201 (1980 edition)

THE BRAZOS RIVER

We crossed the broad Pecos, we forded the Nueces, We swum the Guadalupe, we followed the Brazos, Red River runs rusty, the Wichita clear, But down by the Brazos I courted my dear.

The girls of Little River, they're plump and they're pretty, The Sabine and the Sulphur have many a beauty, On the banks of the Natchez there's girls by the score, And down by the Brazos I'll wander no more.

It sounds like "Natchez", but is "Neches" (Nacogdoches is a city - oldest in Texas, but not a river). I crossed the San Jacinto, Trinity, Neches, Angelina, Sabine, Red, Ouachita, and Mississippi just today on the drive from Houston to Vicksburg (went through and had lunch in Nacogdoches, as well!)

Hi, Tim - You may well be right. But the earliest known version, collected by Vance Randolph in 1942, says "Natchez" - this is the singer's recollection of a song she heard many years before. I think we can all agree that "Natchez" is not correct; but so far, we haven't found an earlier version. I think I'd probably sing it as "Neches," because that's the most credible answer we've had so far - but would the writer have put both "Neches" and "Nueces" in the same song? I put "Natchez" in the Rise Again Songbook, because that's what's in the only version I could document from an authentic source. Finding a source earlier than 1942, would be a wonderful discovery. -Joe-

Having sung Natchez since 1962, as have many others, I probably can't reprogram my brain.... but since it sounds a LOT like 'Netches', I will cheerfully tell anyone who asks that "it is close enough, and was probably just a matter of someone mis-hearing it way back when". So far, everyone just likes the song.... and I once watched at a sing in the mid-60s as a guy made a play for the attention of a girl- singing several 'meaningful' songs for/at her.... he finally got her with "Brazos" and they left together.